'A labor of love': Tuscaloosa area gets another haunted house

Main Avenue Mortuary

Creative director Cody Minor gives a tour of the Main Avenue Mortuary in downtown Northport on Oct. 2. The Tuscaloosa area has been without a large-scale haunted house during Halloween for the last four years. But that will soon change. The radio station 95.3 The Bear will sponsor the "Main Avenue Mortuary" in a historic victorian home in downtown Northport and is also planning a zombie-themed 5K.

Staff photo by Dusty Compton

By Kaitlan CollinsSpecial to The Tuscaloosa News

Published: Wednesday, October 9, 2013 at 3:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, October 9, 2013 at 12:05 a.m.

The Tuscaloosa area will have its first haunted house in four years when "Main Avenue Mortuary" opens Thursday at 315 Main Ave. in downtown Northport.

Main Avenue Mortuary

Creative director Cody Minor gives a tour of the Main Avenue Mortuary in downtown Northport on Oct. 2. The Tuscaloosa area has been without a large-scale haunted house during Halloween for the last four years. But that will soon change. The radio station 95.3 The Bear will sponsor the "Main Avenue Mortuary" in a historic victorian home in downtown Northport and is also planning a zombie-themed 5K.

Staff photo by Dusty Compton

The haunted house will be in a Victorian home built in 1885.

Cody Minor, the creative force behind the bloody venue, said it is modeled to look like a mortuary but one that has gone awry, doubling as a butcher shop.

Patrons will enter the grim mortuary's lobby, pass a storage room filled with caskets, witness a funeral, encounter an autopsy room, move to a crematorium, and meet a few unsettling surprises with a murderous touch.

"The story line is a mortician who sells meat out of the back of a mortuary," Minor said.

The old house is spacious, he said, so smaller rooms and hallways were constructed within the original rooms.

Two or three themes were debated before settling on the mortuary theme, he said.

Minor built and designed Tuscaloosa's former haunted house, "Fright Factory."

He said he got hooked on haunted houses as a kid when his parents, members of a volunteer fire department, were asked to organize a haunted house and he volunteered to help.

Minor's favorite memories growing up include piling into a truck with friends to drive to haunted houses in the area in the fall.

As for this year's haunted house, Minor said each room will have an iconic character like a mortician performing autopsies or a butcher in the backyard slicing meat.

"There are two rooms that will really stand out," he said. "But I don't want to give it away."

Townsquare Media and The Laser Skin Center are sponsoring the Main Avenue Mortuary. Brenda Ewart, Townsquare Media's live events coordinator, had the idea for a haunted house.

Ewart worked with United Cerebral Palsy when it sponsored the Fright Factory for more than 10 years. Fright Factory had "quite the reputation," but could not find a suitable vacant location after the April 27, 2011, tornado. Area buildings large enough to house a Halloween haunted house were being used for businesses displaced by the storm.

Ewart sent emails seeking potential locations, saying she needed a visually appealing venue that was accessible and had enough parking spaces. University of Alabama and Shelton State students often volunteer, so a central venue is necessary, she said.

Tracy Gatewood with Hamner Real Estate found the home on Main Avenue shortly after receiving the email.

"The area is long overdue for a haunted house," she said.

The haunted house is about a block from City Cafe. Ewart said she is still looking for a permanent location.

Ewart, who worked with Minor on the Fright Factor, said Minor has a "genius mind, wrapped around scaring people."

Minor said a "Ghoul School" is held to train volunteers. Minor and other veteran haunted-house workers teach newcomers how to scare people.

"We teach them who to go after," he said, noting volunteers are encouraged to go after someone farther back in the line, because whoever is first is usually the bravest.

"People are there to be entertained," he said. "If we can't scare them, we make them laugh, and if we can't make them laugh, we gross them out."

Townsquare Media and The Laser Skin Center are also featuring a Bama Zombie Dash 5K at Kentuck Park on Oct. 27. Runners attach flags to themselves and run a designated course while zombies chase them in hopes of taking the flags. There will be a cash prize for the first runner who crosses the finish line.

Ewart said the idea surfaced when one of Townsquare's executives was driving through Kentucky and saw a billboard advertising something similar to the zombie dash. "We knew we had to do it before someone else did."

Interested runners can register online at any of Townsquare Media's five stations' websites or at Wagner's Run/Walk store in Midtown Village. The entry fee is $30 in advance and $35 on race day.

Main Avenue Mortuary is "a labor of love," she said. The goal is to give Tuscaloosa area residents a large-scale haunted house that isn't a 45-minute drive away.

"Nobody else has done it, so we thought we might as well."

The Main Avenue Mortuary will open Thursday. It will be open Thursday through Sunday this week and Oct. 17-20. It then will be open nightly Oct. 24-31. Admission is $15 per person, with $1 donated to the Boys and Girls Club of West Alabama.

The Main Avenue Mortuary is seeking volunteers 16 and older. At least 25 are needed each night. Send emails to Brenda.ewart@townsquaremedia.com or call 205-292-3992.

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